UC Irvine’s Stadick named 2018 OTB/Springbak National Blocker of Year

A career season for UC Irvine middle attacker Scott Stadick has culminated with him winning the top national award for blocking.

Off the Block announced Monday that a nationwide voting committee selected Stadick as the 2018 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Blocker of the Year.

The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Blocker of the Year is an annual award that started in 2011 and recognizes the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball player with the best front-row defensive performance during the regular season.

Stadick led the Big West and was second in the nation with a 1.32 blocks per game average. The sophomore also had a nation-best 153 blocks, including at least five blocks in 18 regular season matches.

Among the middle attacker’s top performances of the season featured season-high 10 blocks in victories against both George Mason and Stanford. In addition, Stadick led the conference with 29 solo blocks as he helped the Anteaters finish in second place in the Big West and earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

A voting committee of about 25 men’s volleyball coaches and volleyball media members from around the nation determined the winner for the National Blocker of the Year. The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the award.

Stadick received 54 votes — more votes than the other top-five vote-getters earned combined.

Lincoln Memorial middle attacker Pedro Carvalho finished as the runner-up with 22 votes, while the other finalist Ball State middle attacker Matt Walsh received 12 votes.

This is the eighth year that Off the Block has presented the National Blocker of the Year. Previous winners are former BYU All-American middle attacker Futi Tavana in 2011, former USC middle attacker Robert Feathers in 2012, former UC Santa Barbara All-American middle attacker Dylan Davis in 2013, former Lewis All-American middle attacker Bobby Walsh in 2015, middle attacker Tommy Carmody with Pacific in 2014 and Pepperdine in 2016 and former Long Beach State middle attacker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez in 2017.

Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage.

Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the 2018 National Blocker of the Year and produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.